HC notices to TS on non-issue of revised minimum wages GO

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notice to the state government, special chief secretary and the commissioner of the Government Printing Press at Chanchalguda directing them to file counter affidavits to a petition on the issue of a GO pertaining to the revised minimum wages of 68 scheduled employments.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji was dealing with a petition filed by Daggula Satyam, general secretary of Telangana Regional Trade Union Council, Peddapalli district, aggrieved by the state government not issuing the GOs pertaining to the revised minimum rates of wages of 68 scheduled employments, including labour employment training and factories, construction or maintenance of roads and building operations, stone breaking and stone crushing operations, construction of projects for 12 to 16 years. He said he was also aggrieved by the inaction of the commissioner, printing, in publishing the GO.

Chikkudu Prabhakar, counsel representing the petitioner, said the state government has to fix wages as per the recommendations of the Minimum Wages Advisory Board to scheduled employments and revised minimum rates of wages not later than five years.

Prabhakar said minimum wages were revised for the 73 schedule employments in 2006. The government has not revised wages, though the process was completed by virtue of earlier HC orders.

According to him, there were 1,07,64,728 EPF members in Telangana working in schedule employments. The court directed the authorities to file their contentions within four weeks.